Why Corvo from Dishonored Might Be The Coolest Assassin Ever

From Agent 47 to Ezio, assassins make up some of the most iconic and interesting characters in gaming. They’re cool, they’re collected, and they embody what we consider to be the minimum conventions of a true badass.

But from what we’ve seen of the upcoming new IP Dishonored, I’m suddenly left wondering if the main character in the game isn’t potentially one of the most exciting and interesting assassins ever put in a video game.

Corvo is at the heart of a classic revenge tale. Once the bodyguard of the Empress, he finds himself framed for her death and lands in a dingy prison to await death. After a visit from a stranger, he inherits supernatural abilities and launches into a campaign fueled by anger and striving for revenge and vindication.

The assassin lives in a steampunk, alt-history world full of corruption and turmoil. Plague runs rampant in the streets, citizens are up in arms with each other and the law, and the rich and privileged look on from above. In such a turbulent and dangerous setting, an assassin has the chance to thrive and use the chaos as an opportunity to harness it and use it as a mean to achieve his goals.

And Corvo seems like just the man to do that. In a game that is part Thief, part BioShock, we’re treated to a stealth-based game featuring multiple play options and a main character boasting more than a few awesome abilities.

Corvo is able to call on his supernatural abilities and use them to push away foes, use vision options to locate enemies, slow down time, and even command a horde of rats to attack those who stand in the way. With open-ended gameplay and multiple options to approach missions within the game, you’ll have the chance to harness these abilities and use them in whatever way seems to fit your play style. Developers have even boasted that there is a way to play through the game without ever killing a single person, suggesting that stealth has adopted a near Deus Ex structure that will allow players to move undetected throughout the city of Dunwall, should they choose to do so.

And we’ve only scratched the surface of his abilities in all the demos and gameplay trailers we’ve seen and heard about. Also armed with myriad weapons and a slick skill with blades and parkour, Corvo is looking more and more like he might just take top honors as the deadliest and most powerful of all the assassins in gaming.